On BBC Radio Stoke owner Norman Smurthwaite said that OVF’s editorial had asked for an owner with charismatic charm. The actual editorial appealed for something quite different.

Rob Fielding writes…

On Saturday evening Norman Smurthwaite said that an editorial on OVF had called for a new owner with “charismatic charm” and he responded saying he knew plenty of people with charismatic charm who couldn’t run a football club. He added that my editorial should be “thought through.”

Well Norman, perhaps you ought to “think through” your criticism as I never mentioned “charismatic charm” anywhere in my editorial.

What I actually asked for (and it was the title of the article which makes it quite difficult to miss) was a “new and dynamic owner” – no mention of charisma at all.

Just to repeat what I feel is the key sentence for the third time:

We now have a largely absent owner who seems disinterested in progressing the club. The Vale remain apparently up for sale and in the hands of Colin Garlick (who to be fair has exceeded expectations in a position I for one wouldn’t like to occupy). No-one can say that Norman Smurthwaite HAS to invest in the club but there is a compelling case that says – if he won’t then he needs to sell the club to someone who will. It’s galling that other parties would be willing to put long-term plans in place and are being prevented from doing so due to an unrealistic asking price.

I still stand by this viewpoint. I feel that at this moment we lack a long-term plan both on and off the pitch.